Czech Republic

Czech Republic: EU citizens from abroad may vote in local elections

Prague, 23.9.2014 21:36, (ROMEA) Foreigners in the Czech Republic who are citizens of EU Member States may participate in the municipal elections this year even if they only have temporary residency and not statutory permanent residency, according to the State Election Commission (SEC). The recommendation was made in accordance with last Friday's verdict handed down by the Regional Court in Brno.  full story

Analysis: Trial of violent death of Romani man at hands of Czech Police involves witness suicide attempt

Kynšperk/Sokolov, 23.9.2014 19:29, (ROMEA) In mid-September the trial of police officers from the town of Kynšperk resumed at the District Court in Sokolov. The Plzeň Regional State Prosecutor charged them with negligently causing the 2012 death of Mr Ľudovít Kašpar, a Romani man also from Kynšperk.  full story

Czech Trade Inspection Authority finds 19 cases of discrimination, five against Roma

Prague, 23.9.2014 17:41, (ROMEA) The Czech Trade Inspection Authority (CTIA) has announced that it discovered 19 cases of consumer discrimination during its monitoring in the first half of this year. In addition to discrimination against Romani people, inspectors also found problems with behavior toward Russians.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani candidates establish movement for local elections

Trmice, 23.9.2014 17:05, (ROMEA) A group of local Romani residents of Trmice (Ústí Region) has decided to change the place where they were born, live and work. They have put together a list of independent candidates for this year's municipal elections, the Together for Trmice (Independent Vote) movement (Společně pro Trmice (Nezávislá volba), which is running under number 10.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Romani footballers play embassy employees

Děčín, 21.9.2014 21:39, (ROMEA) The friendly football match between the local TJ Junior Roma football club and representatives of eight embassies drew as many as 200 spectators to Děčín today. The match was held in response to the fact that several teams from the Děčín area refused to play the Romani team, comprised predominantly of Romani people in the district-level third class.  full story

Czech town's EU-funded project won't run in Romani neighborhood

Most, 19.9.2014 20:20, (ROMEA) News server Deník.cz reports that the Most town hall has joined a local antigypsyist campaign underway there with a move that has rendered recent construction work unnecessary and increased tensions in a neighborhood where authorities had pledged to improve interpersonal relationships and living conditions. An EU-funded project to eliminate social exclusion is now supporting it, at least in this one case.  full story

Czech local elections see attempts to buy votes

Bílina/Český Těšín, 19.9.2014 19:35, (ROMEA) The Mf DNES daily in the Czech Republic reports that some politicians are doing their best to buy votes in the upcoming municipal elections. The paper's first report today was about the town of Český Těšín.  full story

Czech Greens: School Act amendment supports segregation, returns us to the past

Prague, 19.9.2014 18:51, (ROMEA) Czech legislators are scheduled to discuss the Government's amendment to the Schoot Act, the aim of which is to make it possible to enroll pupils who would be capable of completing mainstream primary school without assistance and pupils from different cultural or social environments into the "practical schools". The Green Party (Strana zelených - SZ) calls the amendment's approach an unacceptable return to the past.  full story

Czech court acquits German neo-Nazi over 2011 speech

Brno, 19.9.2014 18:14, (ROMEA) Yesterday the Municipal Court in Brno acquitted German neo-Nazi Robin Siener of defamation, which the state prosecutor charged him with committing in 2011 at a 1 May demonstration by the Workers' Youth in Brno. At the right-wing extremist meeting, Siener spoke about "multicultural terrorism" and a cheap workforce flooding Europe, among other matters.  full story

Czech detectives investigate arson against police vehicle, "anarchists" took credit

Ústí nad Labem, 19.9.2014 17:29, (ROMEA) The Czech Republic's Organized Crime Detection Unit (Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu - ÚOOZ) has taken over from detectives in Ústí nad Labem the investigation of an attack on a police vehicle committed at the end of August. Several confidential police sources have confirmed the transfer and believe the arson attack could be related to left-wing extremism.  full story

Czech Republic: New Holocaust memorial in Brno

Brno, 18.9.2014 19:19, (ROMEA) A cube of black granite down which water streams now decorates a square in Brno. It is a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, referencing the racial persecution of Jewish and Romani people by the Nazi Third Reich during WWII.  full story

Czech Gov't tender for anti-hate campaign partially cancelled - no takers

Prague, 18.9.2014 0:58, (ROMEA) The Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion has had to cancel part of its tender for contractors for a campaign against hate violence and racism. Interest in performing some campaign activities was shown by either just one applicant or by no one.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani local candidate looks to EU funds for social exclusion

Brno, 17.9.2014 21:55, (ROMEA) News server Romea.cz has prepared a series of brief interviews with Romani candidates in the upcoming local elections. This interview is with Rastislav Lučanský, who ran for the European Parliament as a Romani Democratic Party candidate and who is now running as an independent in the city of Brno, on the Moravian Party ticket.  full story

Czech Republic: Longterm Romani residents complain about Romani newcomers

Jirkov, 16.9.2014 21:44, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that the town hall of Jirkov (Chomutov district) is addressing a problem with newcomers living in commercially rented apartments. The new tenants are often Romani and are being complained about by other Romani people who have lived in the town for decades.  full story

Czech town discusses "inadaptable" residents and planned repression

Jablonec nad Nisou, 16.9.2014 21:13, (ROMEA) "Public meeting with citizens about safety in the town, coexistence with inadaptables and welfare for housing" was the name of an event that took place on the evening of Tuesday, 2 September in the Grand Hall of Jablonec's Eurocenter, attended by roughly 300 people. Those invited included local residents, politicians, representatives of the municipal and state police, representatives of the Regional Hygiene Stations and the Building Works Authority.  full story

Czech sociologist on what the Czech EdMin needs to learn

Prague, 15.9.2014 19:23, (ROMEA) Sociologist Stanislav Biler has published a commentary on iHNED.cz about Czech Education Ministry policy. News server Romea.cz presents excerpts of that commentary here in translation:  full story

Karel Holomek: Inclusive education nowhere in sight in the Czech Republic

Brno, 13.9.2014 0:26, (ROMEA) The beginning of this school year has taken place with the enrollment of the largest number of first-graders in 20 years, as many as 115 000 children starting instruction. Unfortunately, this favorable development will not continue, according to the prognoses of experts on education.  full story

Czech regulator finds TV NOVA broadcast false report about murdered Romani man

Teplice/Prague, 12.9.2014 20:28, (ROMEA) At the start of April, the In IUSTITIA and ROMEA organizations filed a complaint with the Czech Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (Rada pro rozhlasové a televizní vysílání - RRTV) over a reportage broadcast by TV NOVA, the country's most-watched commerical television station. The piece, called "He killed over a sausage and got five years" was filmed by reporter Martin Kočárek.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani girlfriend of assault victim speaks out

Prague, 11.9.2014 23:12, (ROMEA) A 17-year-old boy who may have committed a brutal assault on a 15-year-old boy at a bus stop in the Malešice quarter of Prague has identified himself to police. The boy claims the entire event took place differently than has been described in the media and says his actions were committed to defend a friend.  full story

Czech Republic: Racist graffiti on Romani candidate's election poster

Prostějov, 11.9.2014 19:02, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that racist slogans such as "Black mug" and "Don't vote for niggers" have recently turned up on election posters for the ANO movement in the Czech town of Prostějov. Ondřej Provazník, a local 18-year-old Romani candidate for the movement, is the target.  full story